{"id":77391,"date":"2020-10-12T10:36:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T14:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=77391"},"modified":"2020-10-12T10:36:00","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T14:36:00","slug":"erick-stevens-announces-retirement-from-professional-wrestling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2020\/10\/12\/erick-stevens-announces-retirement-from-professional-wrestling\/","title":{"rendered":"Erick Stevens Announces Retirement from Professional Wrestling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This past Sunday, independent professional wrestler <strong>Erick Stevens<\/strong> announced his retirement. He took to Twitter to deliver the news. Through a series of tweets, he expanded on his decision to leave. \u201cBefore I elaborate, please understand that this isn\u2019t an impulsive decision,\u201d said Stevens. \u201cNor is it a cliche temporary thing. I always said I\u2019d know when it was time to go. And now is that time. Certainly not the storybook ending I imagined, but this ain\u2019t a storybook.\u201d His Twitter announcement can be seen on his account.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tonight is my last night as a professional wrestler.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Eric Koenreich (@erickoenreich) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/erickoenreich\/status\/1315433637328883713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 11, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Erick Stevens wrestled his final match this past Sunday at <strong>Black Label Pro<\/strong>&#8216;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blacklabelpro.com\/threat-level-noon\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong><em>Threat Level Noon<\/em><\/strong><\/a> event. During the event in question, he teamed with <strong>\u201cFilthy\u201d Tom Lawlor<\/strong> in a losing effort against <strong>Top Flight<\/strong>, the duo of <strong>Angel Dorado<\/strong> and <strong>Air Wolf<\/strong>. The match concluded when Stevens found himself the recipient of a running dropkick, courtesy of high-flying team. One pinfall later and Top Flight was deemed the winning team.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s worth noting that Erick Stevens originally retired from professional wrestling back in 2010. However, he returned to the industry in May of 2019 for one final run. Additionally, he was supposed to wrestle his retirement match this past April at <strong>Beyond Wrestling<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong><em>Big Balls<\/em><\/strong> event. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event in question, as well as shows around the world, were postponed or canceled.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">You let a 13 year old boy live his dream.<br \/>And I\u2019ll always love you for it.<br \/>But I can\u2019t love you obsessively anymore.<br \/>I\u2019ve given all I have left to give.<br \/>My heart can take the pounding.<br \/>My mind can handle the grind.<br \/>But my body knows it\u2019s time to say goodbye.<br \/>And that\u2019s OK. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/z7ikr2HzFW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/z7ikr2HzFW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Eric Koenreich (@erickoenreich) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/erickoenreich\/status\/1315528515505319942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 12, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Stevens began his professional wrestling pursuits in 2003, having trained under current <strong>WWE NXT<\/strong> Superstar <strong>Roderick Strong<\/strong>. He began making appearances for<strong> National Wrestling Alliance Florida<\/strong>. It was here he competed for the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship on multiple occasions and even won the 2005 <strong><em>Rage in a Cage<\/em><\/strong> battle royal. However, by 2005, NWA Florida ceased operations, which promoted Stevens to pursue wrestling elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>In the years that followed, Stevens worked for <strong>Full Impact Pro<\/strong> and <strong>Southern Championship Wrestling Florida<\/strong>, among other organizations. Stevens would even hold the FIP Florida Heritage, Tag Team, and World Heavyweight Championships, the latter of which he held twice. He also made multiple appearances for <strong>Total Nonstop Action Wrestling<\/strong>. In TNA, he faced the likes of <strong>\u201cThe Alpha Male\u201d Monty Brown<\/strong> and <strong>3 Live Kru<\/strong>. By 2007, Stevens started to appear for <strong>Ring of Honor<\/strong>, even defeating former trainer Strong for the FIP World Heavyweight Championship. Stevens remained a staple of ROH until his first retirement in late 2010.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hell yeah I kissed that disgusting, sweat-soaked canvas.  Why?  Because I\u2019m Team Filthy for life, baby.  And I love pro wrestling. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rxGQhRlovo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/rxGQhRlovo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Eric Koenreich (@erickoenreich) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/erickoenreich\/status\/1315571109107060738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 12, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Less than nine years later, Stevens returned to the independent scene. In his return match, which took place at <strong>Beyond Wrestling<\/strong>, he faced <strong>Chris Dickinson<\/strong> in the second-to-last bout of the night. From there, Stevens made his rounds in various organizations, including BLP, where he became the promotion&#8217;s Heavyweight Champion. Other promotions Stevens worked for, leading up to his retirement, include <strong>Absolute Intense Wrestling<\/strong> and <strong>Major League Wrestling<\/strong>, the latter where he became a member of <strong>Team Filthy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-post-content tagdiv-type\">\n<p>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/boards\/index.php\" target=\"_self\">LWOS Boards<\/a> to engage in conversation with fellow fans!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This past Sunday, independent professional wrestler Erick Stevens announced his retirement. He took to Twitter to deliver the news. Through a series of tweets, he expanded on his decision to leave. \u201cBefore I elaborate, please understand that this isn\u2019t an impulsive decision,\u201d said Stevens. \u201cNor is it a cliche temporary thing. I always said I\u2019d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3354,"featured_media":77396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6,2192],"tags":[1055,309,2205,5223,2012],"class_list":["post-77391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-north-america","category-wrestling","tag-aiw","tag-beyond-wrestling","tag-black-label-pro","tag-erick-stevens","tag-mlw"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3354"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}